January 2010 Archives

Velocity is a business novel from the Theory of Constraints community with co-author Jeff Cox coming at TOC again after his work with The Goal years ago. This one introduces combined improvement efforts that are designed to set direction AND give you speed: Velocity.

There are a lot of interesting conversations happening recently about knowledge management and the value of knowledge sharing or knowledge collecting and what it all means. KM is about taking action.

I picked up Eli Goldratt's latest business novel, Isn't It Obvious, and absolutely flew through the book. The title of the book is one of Goldratt's favorite ideas: that the best theories are always seen (in hindsight) as obvious solutions.

My friend, Tammy Green, just sent me a copy of her luscious Chicago Cupcake Crawl e-book. Not only is it about cupcakes (cupcakes bakeries) in Chicago, but the pictures are just fabulous. And the writing is funny too - her personality shines right through the pages.

Hello kind readers. I have been thinking that I'd like to "freshen up" my blog, but I don't have a whole lot of energy to make a big update.

Glen Alleman has some interesting thoughts about uncertainty in projects and whether we need to estimate better. I wonder if theory of constraints and buffer management points to a different solution.

Jim McGee points to an interesting interview with Jordan Frank on the idea that we have a "responsibility to collaborate" with one another. I see it both from the perspective of the individual and of the organization as a whole.

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference is attempting to use the concepts to help organize the Boston conference.

My thoughts about David Allen's 2009 book, Making It All Work, an extension to Getting Things Done. I also make a connection to some of my other work, beyond the obvious organizing and prioritizing that come from the book.

Maybe it is the turning of the annual clock, or possibly because CES* is happening in Las Vegas that I have seen several articles that say something like Weinberger's, "The future is a gimmick."

My friend, Shannon Clark has posted an article about the various media he consumes, which leads me to several new podcasts to explore. Here is my list of podcasts and some mention of other sources.

Henrik Mårtensson has a nice discussion of how an extreme focus on "cost effectiveness" can severely damage an organization with this mindset.

A quick report of the books I read this year. This shows fewer than 20, but I could have sworn I hit more. Ideally, I will get through more in 2010.